1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a curler for shaping a section of hair. The arrangement can be particularly advantageous for providing a more uniform treatment of the hair, or where it is desirable to not treat a portion of this section of hair near the root.
2. Discussion of Background
In the prior art there are conventional curlers made up of a generally cylindrical rigid part about which a section of hair is wound, a pin being pushed through both the wound hair and the said rigid part in order to prevent the said section of hair unwinding. One problem with these curlers arises particularly when the user tries to wind a section of long hair onto a curler of this kind. If the whole length of the section of hair is wound onto one curler, the hair will have to be wound in several thicknesses. However, this arrangement in which the hair is overwound on top of itself is detrimental to penetration of the product which is then applied to the hair. Consequently, in order to wind a section of long hair and allow the product to penetrate fully into the section of wound hair, the hair is usually wound onto several curlers, one after the other along the length of the hair. The number of curlers required is then multiplied by two or three, and the time spent putting the hair in curlers is increased by a similar amount.
Many alternative curlers are known. U.S. Pat. No. 5,483,980 discloses a curler having a cylindrical rigid part about which a section of hair can be wound, with a half-cylindrical shell hinged to one end of this rigid part so that at the right moment it can be closed onto the outer perimeter of the cylindrical rigid part. This shell is kept in its closed position on the rigid part by a supplementary bending of a deformable rigid element projecting from the other end of the rigid part.
Moreover, if the user wants to have curly hair with “natural” effect but without causing the hair on the top of the head to be puffed up, hair growing on the top of the head must not be wound all the way to the roots. Winding therefore begins preferably at the end of the hair and stops short of the roots or conversely stops short of these roots. The curlers now hang at the respective ends of the unwound portions, near the roots, of these sections of hair. The curlers lie all the way around the top of the head, exaggerating the profile of the head. The difficulty is that the unwound portions must not be looped up, and the curlers must not be placed on top of the head if the “natural” effect is to be achieved. The person thus has hair done up in curlers hanging unattractively around the face until the curlers are taken out.
For users with long hair, furthermore, the weight of each curler, together with the corresponding wound up portion of hair, pulls on the roots of the hair. This is a well-known source of discomfort for users with long hair.
Particular curlers that have these disadvantages are known from documents U.S. Pat. No. 2,374,860; FR-2 146 690; U.S. Pat. No. 2,008,656 and FR-988 142.